Single voice opposes Maori seats
People supporting proposed Maori seats on the Palmerston North City Council have been told they are a tiny, self-selected and nonrepresentative group.
The second of two consultation meetings held to encourage people to have their say about the possible introduction of Maori wards was otherwise in favour of the move.
Fewer than 30 people attended on Wednesday night, less than the turnout at a meeting in Highbury on Tuesday, with several people having attended both.
Speaker Don Esslemont said he opposed special entitlements for any group, and believed his opinions were ‘‘widely held’’.
He said the meetings the council had organised about the Maori ward proposal had been designed to be welcoming to people who believed those of Maori ancestry had a special place.
‘‘There are other views, and I have not heard anyone tonight express them.
‘‘Nearly everyone has been at the meetings because they support a separate Maori-based electoral system.’’
He said the councillors would be ‘‘very unwise’’ to think the meetings represented public opinion.
However, Esslemont conceded he had not been very successful in organising a meeting on the subject either.
That meeting in early July was fronted by Hobson’s Pledge in opposition to separate Maori seats, and had also not been well attended.
Four city councillors were at the meeting, and Cr Rachel Bowen said they all had open minds about whether Maori wards should be set up.
She said they would not be basing their decisions on what was said at the meetings, but on the submissions.
Bowen said councillors had been unanimous about taking the Maori ward proposal out for consultation, but that did not mean they had decided it was the right thing to do.
What councillors wanted was to see better Maori representation on the council.
Two elections using the STV system of voting, which they had hoped would see a more diverse group of councillors elected, had not seen any Maori claim a council seat.